Oak Cliff Blog

In search of history, something else turns up in Oak Cliff

City Council member Scott Griggs makes his way through a thicket near Westmoreland Road.

Nothing like a quest and a tromp in the great outdoors to get the juices flowing.

And so we followed Oak Cliff resident Joe Ramirez, City Council member Scott Griggs, five police officers and a code enforcement inspector into the woods in the 1100 block of North Westmoreland this week.

The goal: Check out a past encampment of some sort and look for signs of the long-gone home of a La Reunion colony settler and family.

Mona Reeder/Staff Photographer

Could these mortared stones date to a La Reunion-related structure?

The search continues on the La Reunion front, but word is the city will be clearing away the tires, plastic containers and the rest of the refuse out there.

Ramirez, a history buff, came upon the place last month while looking for the site of the Alphonse DeLord home. He figured the site may have been a meth lab what with the containers and all around and fire pits here and there. So he called Griggs who contacted police to come along on the look-see.

One of the officers, Sgt. Laura Browning, told us this morning she wasn’t an expert in such matters but doubts we had found a meth lab. “To me it looked like an older campsite used by homeless,” she said, noting the number of shoes littered about.

“We’ll continue to monitor the place,” she said.

So will we — to see about the cleanup and perhaps a continuing search for La Reunion history. We’ll also see what becomes of the rundown house nearby at 1140 N. Westmoreland. The code inspector said his department has been trying to bring the property into compliance with city ordinances for two years. But there it stood on Monday, open and vacant, one potential drug house and more. Owned, according to tax records, by the estate of Johnny Gonzalez Jr.

Griggs said the city will board up the place and try to get a court-ordered demolition. We won’t be holding our breath waiting on the latter.